If you're looking for an older but venerable machine, see if you can find a preowned Nakamichi CD4 unit for sale. I had one for a short while and it really produced some serious bottom end punch while maintaining decent mid-range. Unfortunately it also caused some of my CDs to skip so I got rid of it. That's the risk you take when you purchase an older CD player. I've seen a few of these for sale in the past on Audiogon.
older dedicated midfi cd player....2nd system
Looking for for an older, reliable, dedicated player with smooth top end, full bass, and great soundstaging...have had good luck with denon and Sony in the past...but would like to try something else...however the denon dcd 835 comes to mind...not into changers or jukeboxes...anything from 95-05 era that can be found easily on the used market?...basically a forgiving player that doesnt punish sub par recordings...I demoed the orig Rega planet years ago...but wasn't blown away...same with NAD...but they might work for this application...under 1k new models